Oncology Nurse Navigation

Your Personal Health Guide

The Penn Medicine | Virtua Cancer Program’s free nurse navigation program pairs you with an oncology nurse who can review your case with you and provide a personalized level of support to help you better understand your diagnosis, care plan, and medications.

Within 48 hours after a cancer diagnosis, you are assigned to a nurse navigator who stays in contact during the patient's entire course of clinical care . Your nurse can facilitate and streamline communication between you and the doctors who will be taking care of you, coordinate scheduled appointments and help you access any clinical and supportive care services you may need. Ultimately, our goal is to help you avoid delays in accessing our top-rated cancer care specialists.

And because we know that other people in your life are likely to be affected by your cancer journey, the Penn Medicine/ Virtua Cancer Program provides a full range of counseling services to meet the emotional needs of you and your family. A staff of oncology clinical social workers provides individual or family counseling as well as support groups and educational programs.

While this nurse navigation service is specifically designed for breast, colorectal, gastrointestinal, head and neck, lung, gynecologic, and prostate cancer patients, an access navigator can also help you if you’ve recently received abnormal mammogram results by scheduling your appointment with a breast specialist in a timely manner.

Breast Cancer Handbook

We also created a Breast Cancer Handbook, a resource designed to help answer your questions and keep all of your breast cancer care information organized.